


Gammaverse Primer

by deprough, MalachiteDrake



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: ABO Variant, Gammaverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-15 05:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4594635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deprough/pseuds/deprough, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalachiteDrake/pseuds/MalachiteDrake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the primer/source material for the Gammaverse, a variant on the Omegaverse. Please feel free to suggest additions, request additions, ask questions, and use the primer for you own Gammaverse fics! We would love if you would link your Gammaverse fics in the comments here (the easier for us to go look!) and perhaps put a link to the primer in the notes or such on your fic (not at all required, just nice). We hope you enjoy!</p><p>Oh, also, this is a forever work in progress but updates will be sporadic. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Gammaverse is distinct from our reality and the Omegaverse fandom (which it is a spin-off of) in several important ways. This is a primer for the Gammaverse so that anyone can write in our specific twist on things if they want, or to reference if we’ve been unclear on something in our fictions.

 

Gender & Sex

Like in the Omegaverse fandom, the Gammaverse uses multiple genders along with the male/female sexes. Also as in the Omegaverse, these genders have a biological basis that guides general personality and behavior patterns and can be smelled as a part of person’s scent by others. There are eight total gendersexes:

Sex -

Males: Work exactly as in our reality. There is no male pregnancy in the standard Gammaverse.

Females: Work exactly as in our reality. No matter their gender, females in the standard Gammaverse cannot impregnate another person.

 

Gender -

Alphas - Aggressive and possessive, alphas instinctively gravitate to positions of leadership. From benevolent despots to sadistic control freaks, alphas are generally the ones calling the shots - and taking the heat for their pack. Alphas would have the same fertility rate as real-world humans, but neither sex produces many viable gametes in their lifetime. Male alphas have a high count of abnormal morphology in their sperm, and the majority of female alpha eggs are not viable. Females have a regular menstrual cycle each month, regardless of the quality of the egg. Only around one in ten alphas are female.  They are ~21% of the population.

Betas - Cooperative and nurturing, betas instinctually gravitate to lifestyles that allow them to care for others or improve the lives of those around them. Betas have very low fertility, generally only siring or carrying one child in their lifetime. Female betas do not menstruate as their bodies do not produce enough of the hormones necessary for a regular cycle; male betas have a very low sperm count.  They are ~21% of the population.

Gammas - Loyal and protective, Gmmas instinctually gravitate to militaristic or dangerous but highly rewarding (monetarily or through prestige) careers. They form the bulk of any military, most construction and other highly physically demanding labor, and jobs such as police and firefighters. gammas are completely sterile, but through modern surgery and hormone therapy, a female gamma might carry a child to term. There is still a high risk of miscarriage and it is seen as socially awkward for a gamma to do this. They are ~37% of the population.

Omegas - Coddled and indulged, omegas are relegated to being entertaining and ornamental. While the majority of omegas use this social bias to live lives of luxury, free from any expectation of supporting themselves or doing anything more demanding than being a baby factory for their pack, some rail against the stereotype and work that much harder to be taken seriously in their chosen paths. Omegas go into heat (female) or rut (male) on a regular basis;  during this time they are exceedingly fertile. Only around one in ten omegas are male.

  * Rut - Male omegas have highly increased libidos and are capable of engaging in sex effectively non-stop for the duration of the rut. A rut is signaled both by changes in scent and by a greatly increased appetite before the rut; afterwards, the omega usually needs at least a full day of rest to recover. If they couple with a female that is fertile, or will be within a _month_ of the rut, the woman will conceive. The viability of the pregnancy is still dependent on the quality of the egg; while it is more likely for an alpha or beta to conceive from an omega in rut, it is not a guarantee. While prophylactics work well during this time for those wishing to avoid pregnancy, spermicides or other chemical means of male contraceptive are mostly useless. Ruts occur generally three months apart, or four times a year, and usually last 3 - 6 days.
  * Heat - Female omegas will only be fertile during a heat, but a heat may begin with only minor symptoms, leaving a possibility of conception before the omega is aware she is fertile. Only omega females ever bear more than one child at a time, with twins being not uncommon. Multiple births of more than twins still is highly rare. As with males, chemical contraceptives have yet to be created that can counteract the intense rush of hormones released during a heat. Heats usually occur six months apart, or twice a year, and last either until the omega conceives or for roughly thirty days otherwise.



They are ~21% of the population.

 

Manifesting

At puberty, along with all of the lovely development along the x/y axis, people of the Gammaverse also manifest their a/b/g/o gender. During this time, the person gradually sheds their parent pack’s scent and adds their gender scent to their personal scent. While some traits are seen as early indicators of a person’s gender, there is no sure way to know before manifestation without gene typing.  Just as with sex characteristics, gender scent (and fertility traits) manifest usually between the ages of 14 and 17.

 

Scenting

People in the Gammaverse have a much more sensitive sense of smell and produce scents that include their gender, their unique scent, and their pack if the pack is bonded. During a rut/heat, omegas produce strong sexual scents; alphas are highly susceptible to these scents, while betas are only mildly affected. Omegas are generally immune to the rut/heat scents of other omegas, as are all gammas. 

 

Technology

Scent Suppressant - A chemical spray, usually composed of highly cloying scents, that will temporarily cover up the scent of individuals. This is used in situations varying from omegas needing to be in public for some reason during a rut or heat, as a sort of “gender equalizer” in social or professional settings, and by anyone involved in clandestine affairs. Scent suppressants are common enough not to be remarkable when encountered. Some very expensive suppressants, usually in a dermal patch or injection instead of the common aerosol kind, can be used to mimic another’s scent or to counteract a specific person’s scent. These are highly valuable and always personally tailored items usually found in the intelligence community.

 

Packs & Marriage

Pack bonding can occur naturally and spontaneously or be built up over time and triggered by ceremony. Sometimes the marriage ceremony doesn’t create a bond. A bonded pack creates a pack scent that all members exude along with their personal scent.

Traditional Marriage Vows:

Alpha: To Keep and Protect (signet ring)

Beta: To Cherish and Nurture (smaller signet ring)

Omega: To Cleave and Obey (jewelry, specifically ornate circlet)

Gamma: To Honor and Defend (ceremonial weapons and/or armor)

Polygamy is the presence of multiple omegas in the same pack. Multiple alphas do not happen, as the territorial nature of alphas makes it impossible to bond to another alpha. Two alphas in a pack or as a couple is viewed much the same way homosexuality was viewed half a century ago. Multiple betas is seen as greedy or ostentatious, but not polygamous. Multiple gammas is standard.

 

Honeymoon

From antiquity, the first heat of an female omega after bonding to a pack. Nobles highly favored female omegas in the packs of head of households or heads of state, so the tradition became to marry shortly before the omega’s next heat and then go away with the pack somewhere secluded for a month. This became the honeymoon tradition in modern society, regardless of the gender of a pack’s omega.

 

The Heir’s Pack

A term from the Middle Ages that refers to the common practice of only allowing a male alpha to inherit a title and only with a specific pack configuration: male alpha, female beta, female omega, male or female gammas (some countries even further required either a male/female gamma arrangement or an all male gamma arrangement). This ensured any child born to the pack was of the alpha male’s lineage.

 

Orphans

Orphans are rare and usually the result of an Alpha female getting pregnant and not joining in a pack for some reason. Orphanages are underfunded and children are rarely adopted out. Adopted children will not carry their new pack’s scent. Orphanages are usually staffed by unbonded betas.

 

Cloisters

Omegas were historically barred from most kinds of work or really any opportunities outside of producing offspring for their pack. Those that didn’t desire the life of domestic stud or brood mare had one other socially acceptable offer: a cloister. Cloisters are secluded refuges for omegas, where only their gender is allowed. The cloisters even had their own hierarchy all the way to Rome under the oversight of the Coenobiarcha, the head of the Cloisters and the highest rank within the church that an omega can obtain. Omegas are not allowed to hold any other positions within the church or take any vows other than those of the cloister.

 

Christian Origin Story for the Gammaverse

“God created man, Adam, from the Earth and for a time Adam wandered the Eden, worshipping the Lord and exploring the beauty of Creation. After an age, though, the man grew lonely. He asked God for a companion and God created Lilith from the Earth even as God had created Adam. Lilith was strong and wild and did not care to entertain Adam. For a while Adam found the challenge of her invigorating, but eventually he grew restless again and returned to the Lord, asking for a new companion, one that would cater to him. God created Marita to care for Adam, and for a time he was content again. Eventually, though, he grew bored again and returned to the Lord. This time he asked for a companion that would entertain him, and the Lord created Eve. Lilith had returned from her wanderings beyond Eden and was jealous of the favor God had shown Adam by creating companions for him, so she went to the Lord and demanded her own companion. God agreed to create a companion for Lilith, but only if she and her companion swore never to be enemies of Adam or his companions and to always protect them. Lilith agreed and God created Vir. For a time the five lived peacefully in Eden. Eve kept both Lilith and Adam entertained, no small feat given the natures of two of them; Marita cared the for the five, gathering food for them and making soft beds of leaves. In time, though, Eve began to worry that she would become boring and common to Adam, and she wandered to the edges of Eden to look for a way to ensure that Adam would always want her. There, a serpent slithered over her and bade her follow it to a large tree just outside of the edge of Eden.

‘Eat this fruit,’ said the serpent, ‘and you will know all. Knowing all, you will know how to keep Adam.’

‘We are not to leave Eden,’ Eve told the serpent with uncertainty, ‘for the Lord has said that there is danger and pain outside of our garden.’

‘The Lord is wise and created all,’ the serpent agreed. ‘Yet did Lilith not leave Eden and return unharmed? It is only a small distance and the fruit is sweet. It will give you your desire.’

And so Eve stepped outside of Eden and ate of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge and knew what she must do keep Adam. She gathered several of the fruit, enough for all of them, and returned to her family.

‘Here, Marita,’ she said. ‘I have gathered fruit for the pack. Let us enjoy it together.’

Marita, knowing nothing of lies or danger, smiled and took the fruit. That evening, as everyone gathered to watch the sunset, she handed the fruit out and as one they ate it. Lilith reacted first, yelling at Marita.

‘What have you done?’ she cried. ‘Eden is a place for the children of the Lord and we are children no longer!’

Marita cringed back from the others, but she knew that their anger would fall on Eve if she spoke the truth, so she remained silent. The Lord did not hear their praise as the sun set, praise they each had said every day since their creation, and so the Lord approached them. Upon hearing their argument the Lord was saddened, but did not gainsay Lilith’s truth.

‘You must leave,’ the Lord said gravely. ‘You are children no longer. Adam, I gave these others to you, they are your responsibility. Marita, it was your duty to nurture the others and it was by your hand, even unknowing, that you all must depart Eden. And Eve, you have condemned all here because of your fear and vanity. Upon you three falls my anger and my pain. You must all leave and outside of Eden you will eventually return to the earth from which I made you. You three will bear the burden that I now bear: you shall have progeny that man will always walk upon my Creation. Marita, your sin is the least and so your punishment is the least. Eve, your sins are the greatest and so this burden shall fall most heavily on you.’

Lilith and Vir placed themselves between the Lord and the others, standing in defense of those they had sworn to protect even if it meant facing certain destruction at the hands of their Creator. The Lord smiled sadly and said, ‘Peace, my children. Your choice is clear. Go with them and keep our covenant. Do this, and their doom shall never fall upon you.’

And so the First Pack left Eden.

 

(These are shorter because I know less about them. If someone is interesting in expanding on these, please let me know!)

Islam and Middle Eastern Cultural Norms

Unlike the vast majority of the rest of the world, the Islamic religion and the cultural norms of the Middle East emphasize sex over gender when determining social status and activities. Packs are unisex, with male packs taking on female packs as subservient wife packs. A male pack is allowed to marry up to four female packs.

 

Judaism

Gammas are considered the spiritual center of the pack and the only gender allowed to become rabbis. Alphas are the breadwinners of the pack, with betas providing domestic goods as their economic contribution to the household. Omegas generally assist the betas.

 

Catholicism

Jesus preached that all genders were equal in the eyes of the Lord, that gammas were not especially holy nor omegas especially sinful. He also preached  that all of humanity was one pack and not to break apart into smaller packs. As a beta, he was seen as religious and secular radical, which eventually led to his death at the hands of the Romans (for sedition against the natural order of leadership (ie alpha leadership)) by way of Pharisee manipulation (for his promotion that anyone could be a holy person, not just gammas). Catholics view themselves as one spiritual pack, though they still also form bonded packs. A pack that does not bond at their marriage ceremony is not considered joined by the Lord and the ceremony will be considered void in the eyes of the Church. Most orphanages in the Western world are run by Catholics because of their view of humanity as ultimately one pack.

 

United States Military Service

Omegas may not join the military as their heat/rut cycles are deemed too dangerous to put them on active duty deployment. Gammas are seen as natural soldiers of the ideal military unit, while alphas usually join via a CO tract. Betas are most often found in support roles. While the three genders usually fall into these groupings, there is no official requirement or ban on those genders as there is with omegas. Almost all coed units have always included male and female gammas specifically, as it is thought that the availability of sex without the risk of pregnancy in any given unit helps unit bonding and stress levels. There are usually at least one male and female pair of gamma ‘morale officers’ in larger units.

 

Asgard Variants

Sex is much more important on Asgard than it is on Earth. Societal roles and expectations are shaped by both gender and sex.

Male Alpha - Leader and provider, expected to be a warrior and provide for the pack.

Female Alpha - Expected to be in leadership in non-military roles. Often found heading up commercial and scientific fields.

Male Beta - Expected to be leaders in professional domestic fields such as chefs, chamberlains, butlers.

Female Beta - Your typical “housewife”.

Male & Female Omegas - Decorative and entertaining. Musicians, poets, and actors.

Male Gamma - Warriors.

Female Gamma - Military support roles.


	2. Genetics

Okay, so I (MalachiteDrake) am a huge dork (as if writing fanfics for superheroes wasn't a clue....). Also, I love spreadsheets. It's an addiction. So, I figured out how the Gammaverse genders are genetically coded, because obviously I love spreadsheets a little too much. :p Here goes!

 

Sex: Determined just like in the really real world, you've either got XX or XY. 

Gender: There are two sets of genes on the X and Y chromosomes that determine a person's gender. These genes are classified as either A (alpha), B (beta), or O (omega) gene sets. The sets work in concert with each other in a complicated relationship. The B gene must be present for a person to be fertile at all, however it does not guarantee fertility. The ratio of A and O genes present with a B gene gives final determination if a person will be one of the fertile genders or a gamma. 

  * Alphas will always possess at least two A genes and one B gene. The most agressive Alphas have often been found to possess the AA AB combination, which is around 25% of the Alpha population.
  * Betas will always possess exactly two B genes, wether in combination on one gene ('BB --') or across both genes ('-B B-'); if the combination is a split B gene, the other two genes must be one A gene and one O gene. 
  * Gammas possess the most varied gene sequences of the four genders. They will either lack a B gene completely, have three or more B genes, or have a split B genes that both carry either A genes _or_  O genes (AB BA or OB BO).  Highly agressive gammas have been found to more likely possess the AA AA gene combination, with notable psychopaths in history having been comfirmed to possess the gene combination. There have not been substantial studies done on the behavior of BB BB or OO OO gammas to see if the gene sequences influence behavior towars Beta or Omega tendencies.  
  * Omegas are the opposite of Alphas, always possessing at least two O genes and one B gene. The most fertile (and it is generally believed the most submissive) omegas carry a OO OB combination; this is around 23% of the Omega population.



 

Below are my two final spreadsheets for perusal:

Gammaverse Genetics Complete

The colored squares represent two members of a single gender producing offspring. This is seen as incestuous, so rarely happens. Also while omegas give off strong pheromones while in heat or rut, they are immune to the pheremones of other omegas.

 

Gammaverse Genetics Common Simplified

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the update! Please comment, I'd love to get a discussion going! :)


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